A Simple Kind of Love
by Padfoot Is Writing Stories
Summary: When Rachael gets a job at Hogwarts, she never thought life would come to this. Why does everything have to be so complicated, especially when there's Dark Forces and children running rampant. Love and life, what else could go wrong? SSOC Rated M for violence, swearing, and jests at sex. Sympathetic!Severus, Loving!Severus, Grieving!Severus
1. Chapter 1: Flight of the Tempter

**AN: Hi! I'm Padfoot, and I'm a writer of many a fanfiction. I prefer Harry Potter, but if you have a request for something else, I'll write it. I have a account, and post most of my stories on there:) I love writing, so if you wanna hear more, just send me a message or comment down there vv telling me about it! Love you guys, and hope to hear from you soon.  
This is chapter one of A Simple Kind of Love for Rachael Collins! :) Love you. **

Chapter One: Flight of the Tempter

_Deep breath in. _

She breathed in, closing her eyes.

_Deep breath out._

Opening her eyes, she breathed out.

_Don't mind the fact that you're meeting Albus Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the world. Don't mind the fact that you might finally get the job you've been waiting for. Don't mind... _

She shook her head, shaking away the thoughts of nervousness that plagued her. She looked up at the stone gargoyle, which stood there, looking at her curiously.

"I have a meeting with Albus Dumbledore, two o'clock." she said, smiling lightly.

"Name?" said the gargoyle, face blank.

"Rachael Collins."

"Up you go then." the statue moved aside to reveal a slowly revolving staircase. She stepped on, nodding silently to the gargoyle, which moved back into place as the stairs rose slowly to take her to the top.

She placed her foot off the stair and they stopped moving. Rachael stepped forward and raised a fist to knock quietly before hearing a voice yelling incohearently inside.

"You- Dumbledore you- you promised..." said the deep and hate-filled voice loudly, trailing off in a sob. "You promised you would keep her- all of them- safe!"

"Lily put her trust in the wrong people Severus..." said a soft and melancholy voice. Rachael's heart beat faster, and she stood back, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping as a loud crash resounded from inside the room. She stepped back onto the stairs, a few steps back as the door was thrown open and a tall and handsome man stormed out, throwing Rachael a dark and confused look. Tears streamed down Severus' face, and he turned half way down the staircase, glaring at Albus.

"Don't trust this man. He promises a lot of things he can't preform on." Severus looked to Rachael, wiping his face impatiently with the back of his sleeve. "But you can trust me." he stuck out his left hand, and she caught a glimmer of what seemed to be a snake and skull fading quickly away. She ignored it, looking him in the dark eyes that bored into hers and taking his chilled hand in her own.  
"Rachael." she said quietly, smiling softly.

"Severus." he said, nodding and smiling. He retracted his hand, shooting one last dark look at Dumbledore before marching down the stairs.

Albus let out a great sigh, and Rachael turned towards him, confusing crossing her soft features.  
"Who was that?" she muttered, frowning.

"A man who has little faith left in humanity and the world. A man who fell in love with someone who could never love him back. One of my very best friends, actually." he turned, walking into his office. "Come in Rachael, please, and take a seat." Rachael walked quickly up the stairs, blushing softly.

"Well, welcome to Hogwarts." said Albus, smiling.

"Thank you very much," said Rachael, smiling in slight relief. "This is such a great opportunity."

"Well," he said, laughing slighly, and picking up a long scroll of parchment. "We have three positions open." he pointed at the list, frowning. "We need an Astronomy teacher, a chorus instructor, and..." he trailed off, face falling. "A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." he said this quietly, as if by saying out loud, it would make it true.

"Well, I'm no good with defensive spells, but I love stars, although..." she trailed off, grinning, "I'm a fair singer, I would think. And if I can, I'd love to teach two positions... if that's not too hard."

"It's hard, but I have faith." said Dumbledore. He smiled genially at her, placing his old, weathered hand upon hers. She looked down into her lap, still grinning brightly. Only 21 and she had a job at the most fabulous wizarding school in the world.

Hogwarts.

"Well," he said, clapping his hands together. "If you'll just follow me, I will show you to your quarters. Being a professor of the stars now, you'll have a very pleasant view of them." She stood, looking around the grand office once more, then left the study, pleased with her lot.


	2. Chapter 2: Love and Breakfast

**AN: I haven't updated in a while because I've been super busy writing other things, plus I'm trying to keep up with the fact that I have about a million different things I'm doing right now and it's really starting to wear on me. Love you, Rachael. Thanks for being SO patient. **

Chapter Two: Love and Breakfast

Rachael looked out the window, tall and wide, it winked in the bright sun. The Scottish morning, 6 am, looked back at her brightly, smiling. Rachael smirked, looking down at the grounds and seeing a man very familiar to her pace back and forth in front of the Black Lake in agitation. She opened the window, feeling a warm burst of summer air rush across her face.

"SEVERUS!" She yelled, grinning down at him. Severus Snape looked up at her, shielding his eyes from the intense sunlight.

"Hey!" He yelled back, a smile crossing his face. "Come down here! I could use the company." She nodded, rushing down the stairs quickly.

When she reached the outside, she found him pacing again, a profound look of confusion on his face.

"Rachael," he said, pacing past her. "I never thought I'd love again."

"I know." She said, sighing.

"But now, with you, it just feels..."

"Different."

"Better." He looked at her, pulling her thin frame close. "Good." He looked down at the ground, pushing his hair behind his ear, sighing. "Rachael, I love you. Marry me?"

"Severus..." rachael pulled away, pausing. After a few moments of looking out over the water, she sighed, turnin to him, "Can I think about it?"

"Oh. Of course." He smiled at her gently.

"Let's sit. Schools over, we have a beautiful summer to ourselves, and I love you."

"I love you too." Severus sat, leaning back on his hands while Rachael leaned up against him. She was still fairly tired, and was tempted to go back to sleep while lying here, but needed to find a way to stay awake.

"Hey," she said vaguely.

"Yeah?" Said Severus.

"You remember how we met?"

"Oh yeah, right before your meeting with Albus. Ha, you must've thought I was insane."

"No, actually. I felt very, very sad for you. I cannot imagine losing the love of your life, even after she dumped you as a friend. That must've been so hard, Severus, and I wouldn't never, -ever- judge you for something so beautiful." She looked up at him, and there were tears reflecting in the rims of his eyes. He leaned down, kissing her softly.

"But yeah, bit of a loon you are." They laughed.

"And then I came off completely presumptuous and downright cruel at times. But you hadn't taken the DADA job, and I just had to have someone to fill it so they would be gone the next year. Remember when-"

"Ha, yes, I remember. "

_-Ten Months Earlier-_

Rachael slowly cleared her desk of all but a few sheets of paper and her unfinished lesson plan. She sat down, plopping her head into her hands and sighing in frustration. Tomorrow was the first day, and children would be lining up to sing and hear about the stars. She had to be able to find a way to get from her office on the second floor to her choir room on the fourth and the astronomy tower across the school in less than ten minutes each. She'd timed herself, and had done remarkably well getting to her classroom on level four, but had failed resolutely on getting to the tower. Luckily, she had a free period between her last choir class and her first astronomy class, which gave her plenty of time to get up there and set everything up.

A knock sounded, sharp and demanding, on her door.

"C'm'in," she muttered, not looking up. The door slammed open, and footsteps beat across the hard marble flooring.

"Miss... Collins. I am here requiring knowledge for why you didn't take the Defense Against the Dark Arts job." Said a cold and snide voice. She could hear the sneer and chose not to look up.

"Because, Professor Snape, I am no good at defensive magic. I believe, however, my job and what I teach is none of your business and I politely ask you to get your slimy, pompous arse out of my office and back to your dungeons. You seem to have made a fine home down there, you great bat." She finally looked up to see anger and shock crossing his face. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms and arching one eyebrow.

"What gives you the right to speak to me-""

"What gives -YOU- the right to barge into my study while I'm dutifully trying to create a lesson plan for two different fields of study tomorrow. Please, Mr. Snape, if you would kindly see yourself out, I'm sure you have hair to not wash or a potion to brew or something." She smirked as he stood straight, lost for words.

"I see you are just as cruel as your house." "

"Which would be the same as yours, would it not?" "

He sighed in exasperation, sitting down in one of the chairs across from her.

"Look, I meant you no ill feelings. It's just..." Severus sighed gently, running a hand through his greasy hair then rubbing said hand on his pant leg in disgust. "Quirrell is an incompetent, blubbering, fool of a man who I wouldn't trust with one child let alone 200. Lets just say he's a man who you wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley."

Rachael looked at Snape curiously. He was a handsome man, with dark brown hair to match his almost equally dark eyes, long, slender hands and an interesting face. When standing at full height, he was obviously very tall, 6'2" at least. Rachael sighed, tuning back into his words.

"Do you have a point to all this, Mr. Snape? I'm a teacher, not a therapist." She said curtly. Why was she being so mean to this helplessly lost man? "

"Not really," he said. "I don't really have any friends here. I'd like to make one; we seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot." He stretched out a hand, standing. "Comrades?"

She looked at his hand, his left one, and the tattoo he bore on his wrist. It was faded and looked more like an angry scar, but held many promises of long awaited debts. She sighed as he put his arm down, leaning down to her level.

"I'm not dangerous, Miss Collins." He said, face inches from hers. His breath smelled of mint that almost hid faint traces of tobacco. "I was sad for a very long time. But I'm almost better now. And I wish to make amends to my appalling actions this past few weeks."

"Ten." She said lightly. "

"Hmm?" He stood back straight. "

"It's been ten WEEKS since I took this job, and I still can't seem to get from one place to another without being late." She sighed, feeling her anger well up inside her, ready to burst. Tears welled in her eyes. "This is the first time I've ever even tried to be good at something, after never trying at all and I'm terrible at it! I'm terrible at teaching and I'm terrible at being a good friend and I'm terrible at getting you to open up. It's been ten weeks and I just can't seem to get you out of my head. You're all I think about, all Minerva and I talk about, and all I want. Severus Snape, the moment you came barging into my office five minutes ago, since the second you came in, I've wanted to throw you down on the desk and kiss you within an inch of your life, and more, of course, but I am a lady and ladies do not discuss such things..." she cleared her throat, taking a deep breath. "Please just try to understand if I'm a little quippy with you-" Severus leaned over the desk again, taking her face in his large and calloused hands and kissing her lips softly.

"I love you." said Severus quietly into her ear.

_-Present- _

Rachaels stomach growled rather loudly, and Severus laughed, standing and stretching, pulling her to her feet.

"Breakfast, do you think?"

"Yes, breakfast." said Rachael thoughtfully, pulling him up the hill towards the school. "Breakfast indeed."


End file.
